The present invention relates to the field of missile support systems and more particularly to such support systems which are protected against nuclear blast. Nuclear missiles are suspended within cylindrical silos by means of typically six to twelve sets of cables which are affixed to the silo walls. During nuclear attack, these hardened silos are driven downwardly at very high accelerations due to the blast, causing the cables supporting the missiles along with their support equipment to slacken, placing the cables into compression to in turn cause a severe kinking and "bird caging" of the cables to severely weaken them due to the separation of the strands making up the cable. When the silo rebounds upwardly after the blast, pressure over the silo subsides and the already weakened cables readily snap due to the tension induced in the cables owing to extremely high upward accelerations of the walls of the silos.
Early attempts to resolve these problems utilized cable attachments placed on tracks. These designs proved bulky and did not appear to be any more survivable due to uncertainties in the integrity of the tracks during the blast intervals. Additionally, such designs could not readily accommodate a reliable cable severing system which is often needed to permit egress of the missile after blast. At a later time, a cable loop system was designed which resolved most of these problems; however, the loop system resulted .in doubling of the number of recesses in the silo wall and greatly complicated the overall cable system. Synthetic fiber ropes were proposed. Such ropes appeared to be able to survive a nuclear blast but their flexibility posed a design risk in that they could tangle preventing a successful missile egress.